Mixing GM Crops With Drugs and Beer is a Bad Idea

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http://www.mercola.com/2005/aug/20/mixing_gm_crops_with_drugs_and_beer_is_a_bad_\

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Mixing GM Crops With Drugs and Beer is a Bad Idea

 

A pair of articles in Business Week Online discussed the risk that

plants genetically engineered to produce pharmaceutical drugs may get

into the food chain.

 

Drugs Vs. Alcohol

 

Anheuser-Busch, which uses Missouri-grown rice to make beer, was

unhappy with the plans of Ventria Biosciences. Ventria intended to

plant fields in Missouri with transgenic rice, containing human genes.

The additional genes cause the plant to produce two proteins, which

the biotech company plans to use to treat stomach disorders.

 

Anheuser-Busch, worried that the transgenic plants might end up in the

food crops and, in turn, their beer, announced that they would boycott

Missouri rice if Ventria proceeded. Ventria eventually agreed to plant

the rice in a remote corner of the state.

 

Growing Drugs

 

Plants such as rice and corn are considered ideal for " growing " drugs

because they naturally produce large quantities of proteins. They can

be made to produce proteins that affect humans by replacing some of

their natural genetic code with human genes.

 

Using plants in this manner is considerably cheaper than other means

used for this process, such as harvesting drugs from Chinese hamster

ovaries. Plant use is estimated to cut manufacturing costs from $125

million to $4 million.

 

It has been predicted that the first plant-manufactured drugs will

arrive on the market in 2006, and grow into a $2.2-billion-per-year

industry by 2011.

 

Mixing With Food Crops

 

But there are fears that pollen from genetically engineered plants

could be blown by the wind into fields containing food crops,

producing contaminated hybrids, or that transgenic seeds could be

carried hundreds of miles by birds.

 

In 2002, drug-producing transgenic corn made by ProdiGene Inc. started

appearing in soybean fields in Nebraska and Iowa. The U.S. government

seized 500,000 bushels of soybeans, and fined ProdiGene almost $3

million. Further problems of this nature could interfere with U.S.

food sales to foreign countries, many of which are resistant to the

idea of transgenic crops.

 

Tighter Regulation Needed

 

Consumer and environmental groups argue that a tighter regulatory

framework is needed. Right now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA) is the only federal agency that regulates drug-producing

plants; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only steps in later,

when the drugs themselves are tested. Many argue that, since the FDA's

mandate includes protecting food, they should regulate the process at

an earlier point.

 

Margaret Mellon, director of the food and environment program for the

Union of Concerned Scientists, argued that the FDA needs to be given

oversight over the whole process.

 

Said Mellon, " The FDA has authority to oversee drug production. The

question is: When does drug production begin here? ... The FDA needs

to get new authority from Congress to allow them to regulate

genetically engineered organisms. There needs to be a pre-commercial

review of the risks inherent in this type of production. "

 

Business Week Online August 1, 2005

 

Business Week Online August 1, 2005

 

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

I recently discussed how hybrids between GM plants and wild plants

create weeds resistant to herbicides, and how GM crops can result in

insecticide-proof insects. Now we are presented with the frightening

possibility that medical drugs could end up in our food supply.

 

 

 

The effects of genetic modification on the environment and on our

health is unknown. Essentially, it is a massive and risky experiment

on the whole human race and the earth's biosphere. And it isn't a

question of whether or not GM plants will mix with non-GM crops; they

will do so. We do not have control over the wind, the birds and the soil.

 

 

 

Even without the certainty of GM contamination, most people are

already eating GM foods without even knowing it. Genetically

engineered foods aren't labeled as such when they're sold to you in

the grocery store. But at least seven out of 10 items on the shelf

have been genetically modified. There are, however, ways to identify

GM foods.

 

 

 

If you want to steer clear of eating GM food for good, take the

following steps:

 

 

 

· Avoid processed foods. Some 75 percent of processed foods

contain GM ingredients.

 

· Read produce and food labels. GM soybeans and corn make up

the largest portion of genetically modified crops. When looking at a

product label, if any of the ingredients are corn flour or meal,

dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, or tofu (to name a few),

there's a good chance it has come from GM corn or soy, unless it's

listed as organic.

 

· Buy organic produce. Buying organic is currently the best

way to ensure that your food has not been genetically modified. Food

that is certified organic is by definition free from all GM organisms.

 

· Look at produce stickers. Those little stickers on fruit and

vegetables contain different PLU codes depending on whether the fruit

was conventionally grown, organically grown, or genetically modified.

The PLU code for conventionally grown fruit has four numbers,

organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine,

and GM fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.

 

Related Articles:

 

Genetically Modified Crops are Contaminating Your Food

 

GM Foods Prepare a Takeover

 

Why Genetically Modified Crops Can Devastate Health